The bHLH family NITROGEN-REPLETION INSENSITIVE1 represses nitrogen starvation-induced responses in Chlamydomonas reinhardtii

For developing strategies to improve the nitrogen use efficiency of crops, our study using Chlamydomonas identified and characterized the bHLH factor NRI1, required for repressing the use of alternative nitrogen sources. We propose that NRI1 serves as a critical repressor to coordinate diverse nitrogen starvation-induced responses, providing a crucial first step to elucidate how plants and algae cope with fluctuating nitrogen availability